


In the Chill of Night

by royalflush (kadotoriku)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Anti-Hero, BAMF Peter Parker, Dark Peter Parker, Dubious Morality, Gen, Killing, Peter Parker Acts Like a Spider, Secret Identity, community: spiderkink, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24803662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadotoriku/pseuds/royalflush
Summary: “My fault... all my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have—but Ididn't... and now Uncle Ben isdead...”Ben Parker's death doesn't snowball into the iconic superhero origin story. Instead, it's the event that causes the birth of the faceless anti-hero killer of Queens, Spider-Man.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker
Comments: 12
Kudos: 95





	1. Origin Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for [this](https://spiderkinkmod.livejournal.com/1663.html?thread=163199#t163199) prompt from the TASM Kink Meme (can also be found [here](https://spiderkink.livejournal.com/1612.html?page=44#comments) on the Spider-Man Kink Meme):
> 
> **AU Dark!Spiderman**  
>  _What if he had instead become an antihero who kills criminals? A thief? A full-blown mercenary?_
> 
> _The disturbing part is that I think he'd be very good being a mercenary. Think about it: he defeated the fantastic four on their first meeting, he proved almost too much for the X-men in Secret Wars... I think he'd have demand as a mercenary._

_"A-a hundred bucks? The ad said three thousand."_

_“Check it again, kid. It said ‘three grand for three minutes’, and you pinned him in two. For that, I give you a hundred, and you're lucky to get that.” An eyeroll._

_“I need that money!”_

_The promoter has a familiar expression on his face, one that most of the people in Peter’s life give him: dismissive, arrogant, and uncaring within their comfortable, superior position of power. “I missed the part where that’s my problem.”_

*

_“Hey, what the hell—!”_

_“Put the money in the bag.”_

_With his enhanced hearing, he can hear the click of a gun through the walls, but he doesn’t react or rush towards it. Instead, he trudges towards the elevator, blocking out the noise and shouts because why should he get involved?_

_He consciously pats the pocket with the folded-up bills. Maybe he should buy Aunt May the set of baking pans she’s been eyeing for months or buy Uncle Ben a new suitcase that isn’t threatening to crack open at any moment._

_“STOP! THIEF! STOP HIM! If he makes it to the elevator, he'll get away!”_

_“STOP HIM, HE’S GOT MY MONEY!”_

_Turning around as the elevator doors pop open, Peter watches as a robber with a shiny firearm and a sack of cash ( ~~that should be Peter’s if it wasn’t pilfered by a conniving greedy **bastard** —~~) runs in his direction._

_And he steps aside._

_“Made it! Thanks!”_

_The elevator closes and descends._

_“What the hell’s the matter with you, kid? All you hadda do was trip him or hold him just for a minute! You let him go!”_

_What does the policeman expect him to do? Jump in front of the robber and risk getting shot? He’s only fifteen, for crying out loud! Him, a teenager against a fully-grown adult! Sure, he might’ve gotten strange abilities from a spider and may be wearing a mask concealing his baby face, but he’s so sick and tired of people constantly walking over, berating, and taking advantage of him!_

_“You could'a taken that guy apart! Now he's gonna get away with my money.”_

_Peter meets the promoter’s outraged gaze with nothing but pure apathy. See how much_ he _likes it when his own words are thrown back into his face, when_ he _is the one whose problems are ignored._

 _“I missed the part where that's_ my _problem.”_

*

_“Bad news, son, your uncle has been shot—murdered!”_

_"Uncle Ben—dead? No! No, it can't be! Who did it? **WHO SHOT HIM?** ”_

*

Peter’s first kill is an accident.

( ~~That’s what he’ll tell you, anyway~~ _ ~~.~~_ )

 _The police are so damn **slow**_ , he thinks angrily as he swings into one of the broken windows where he tracked down Uncle Ben’s killer.

He climbs up one of the abandoned warehouse’s walls, and balances on top one of the many metal beams near the ceiling. His senses purr in predatorial anticipation, and he offhandedly notes the feeling as another effect from that faithful spider bite.

The hair on his arms stand upright as he perches himself in front of the moonlight, casting a large shadow above the thug.

“WHO’S THERE?”

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

Peter almost scoffs at the lack of tactical thinking, satisfaction pooling in his gut as the killer cowers like a quivering insect. The thug is breathing loudly, radiating pure terror at the face of the threat he can’t seem to find. He’s terrified out of his wits. _Good_.

The thug spots a door and frantically scuffles towards it, temporarily distracted at the chance of escape ( _ ~~as if Peter would let him leave, hah~~_ ).

Seizing the opportunity, Peter silently drops down onto the ground, footsteps light, and marches with a purpose. Grabbing the back of the killer’s jacket and left arm, Peter doesn’t hold back as he slams him through one of the door’s glass windows.

Shards fly through the air as it breaks on impact.

Then, the killer screaming bloody murder is pulled back and shoved head-first into the other window. Peter flings him backwards into a pile of junk. The physical pain he’s experiencing is _nothing_ compared to the anguish he put Aunt May ( _sweet, caring, doting Aunt May_ ) and Peter through.

If he had all the time in the world, he’d hammer it into the man how much he should be regretting his decision to shoot Uncle Ben.

Suddenly, a tingle comes from his nape.

A knife slashes through the air where Peter’s throat previously was.

 _Pathetic_. Following his instincts, Peter does a backflip, foot snatching the blade and sharply kicking it upwards where it gets embedded into a wooden beam.

He rushes forward and jumps. Using his forward momentum, he grasps a pipe with both hands and kicks the thug right in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, and pushing him into a brick wall with a painful-sounding _thud_.

 _Not enough_.

There’s a burning temptation to pull off his mask and look at the killer with both of his eyes, look at him face to face and _see_ just whose life he’s affected—but Peter rationally beats the thought away. He can’t mess up now, not let himself get caught.

It would be easy to just _shoot_ the guy with a well-aimed burst of webbing and watch him flail around in vain to tear through Peter’s own creation while suffocating from the lack of Oxygen. He marches forward, hands twitching with barely suppressed rage. Or he could choke him himself.

“Don’t hurt me—just gimme a chance... JUST GIVE ME A CHANCE!”

 _How_ _dare he treat Ben Parker’s death like it’s_ nothing _, like Peter’s uncle is one of **them**. Like his sweet, forgiving, selfless, kind Uncle Ben is one of those disgusting dirtbags that care for no one but themselves—_

“What about my uncle?” Peter hisses. “Did you give _him_ a chance? _DID YOU?_ ”

His blood boils in pure _hatred_.

“ ** _ANSWER ME!_** ”

The killer does and Peter freezes, mouth agape as he lets go of off the other’s clothes. _That—that face! It's... oh, no, it can't be_ , he realizes with growing horror. Recognition dawns on his features. _It's the fugitive who ran past me! The one I didn't stop when I had the chance!_

Unconsciously, he takes a step back. And another.

His mind reels at this newly acquired information. The air leaves his lungs and he gasps shakily.

Adrenaline pumps through him and everything moves in slow motion.

As if an internal switch was flipped, his anger drains away into nothingness, with apathy, with a sense of disconnection from the cruel, bloody world around him. His emotions are muted while his senses dial themselves up, and he can hear his own heartbeats and, distantly, the pounding ( _alive_ ) heart of Uncle Ben’s killer.

 _It’s like the butterfly effect_. This wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t stand by. If only he stopped that robber, if he tripped him, if he kicked him or... or—something—!

 _Click_.

A smirk. “See ya.”

His neck prickles in warning.

Peter smacks the gun out of the way, grabbing the thug’s arm and twisting it as painfully as he could. Bones audibly crack under the pressure and the gun clatters uselessly onto the ground.

A part of him whispers lowly, _Show no mercy_.

He takes one glance at the sniveling, pathetic thug.

 _With pleasure_.

*

In the official report, the killer tripped over a pipe on the ground and fell through the window in his daze.

None of the policemen pay any mind to the strange angles some of the body’s parts are in. _It could’ve been from the fall_ , one of them reasons.

A short distance away, Peter watches under the cover of the shadows, observing and listening if there are any indications that the police think the death _isn’t_ a desperate escape attempt turned accidental suicide. He rips off his mask and touches his eyes, feeling moisture begin to build up after... after all of that.

“My fault... all my fault! If only I had stopped him when I could have—but I _didn't_... and now Uncle Ben is **_dead_**...”

_Maybe. Might. Perhaps. Possibly._

The wind whisks away his thoughts, his regrets, and his _what-if’s_.

He has these powers, these... _abilities_. His instincts warn him of danger, of people watching, of threats. Peter’s mind is already constructing a bullet list of what his enhancements are, but he can’t bear to think about it when he missed his chance to use them to save one of the two people he treasures in this world.

Rationally, intellectually, Uncle Ben’s death is one of chance—a random occurrence fueled by bad luck. In Peter’s mind, however, he has an overwhelming sense of guilt spurred on by his denial.

There’s blood on his hands for his moment of indifference.

( _...But what’s a bit more if it means sparing others of this pain?_ )

Peter furiously wipes his tears and puts on his mask again. Time and space won’t stop for him just because Uncle Ben is gone. He needs to—he needs to be strong. For Aunt May. He needs to go _home_.

The thinking can be postponed for another time.

For now, he’ll mourn.

His lean, silent figure slowly fades into the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come great responsibility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from the [1960s opening for the Spider-Man cartoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUtziaZlDeE). Dialogue is a mix of the original comics and the Raimi movie, but I've practically cherry-picked stuff from different Spideyverses. Welcome to another spiderkink fill of mine. If the original anon happens to find this, howdy! Hope you enjoy this unedited... _thing_ , hahah.
> 
> Have you seen how [_brutal_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYXtQmJU4V8) Peter is to the thug in the Raimiverse? Gosh, I love those movies to death. I love the action scenes and the fighting choreography hnghhh if only MCU!Spidey was a just a teeny bit more like Raimiverse!Spidey...
> 
> Thank you for reading and feel free to leave a comment on your way out! If there's anything (or any _one_ ) that you want to see in particular, please let me know!


	2. Birth of an Anti-hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _By putting one criminal to the stake, Peter would be sparing ten more._

In Earth-616, Peter didn’t resort to killing the thug. He would’ve seen how doing so would make him no better than the man, and Peter would simply web up the criminal for the police to find.

In Earth-65, Ben Parker didn’t die at all. But _Peter_ does, because it wasn’t _him_ that was bitten by the radioactively enhanced spider, thus he ends up injecting himself with an unstable reptilian serum in a desperate attempt to become like his idol, Spider-Woman.

In Earth-120703, he didn’t find his uncle’s killer despite going on a manhunt for the blond with a star tattoo.

In Earth-9576, this world’s Peter is so consumed by hatred that he beats Uncle Ben’s killer to death, and immediately comes to regret his actions. After years of keeping it all a dirty little secret, he turns himself in to the police.

No two Peter Parkers across the multiverse are the same.

While all of them share the basic traits of a guilt complex or a connection to something arachnid, other parts of him can be different: Gender, date of birth and death, the era he’s in, age during the spider bite, if he actually _gets_ the spider bite, whether it’s Uncle Ben or another important person in his life that gets killed by a robber, the circumstances of him gaining his powers, his friendship circle, if he has siblings or not, his _name_ on a few occasions, and so much more.

Including personality and beliefs.

Out of all the realities and multiverses, out of all the incarnations and versions of him, Earth-9576 is the closest you’d get to our current Peter.

There’s one major difference between the two, however. Intentions can go a long way; they can be the difference between lifetime and a decade in prison. Our Peter didn’t commit _voluntary manslaughter_ , he didn’t kill in the heat of the moment. He didn’t accidentally lose control of his superhuman strength in a fit of rage and thirst for vengeance.

He _intended_ to cause harm onto ( _ ~~and beat the ever-loving **shit** out of~~_) the murderer. He scared the man out of his wits and into sniveling submission, terrified the guy to hell and back, all while having a kind smile on his masked face. Then, he knowingly took the life out of the thug as the man did to Ben Parker.

That’s _second-degree murder_.

And that’s much, _much_ worse than manslaughter if you consider the implications behind it.

*

In the hours of the early morning after Uncle Ben’s murder, Peter doesn’t sleep at all. His eyes are heavy and bleary, but his mind continues to stay awake, refusing to give him much needed rest. Shutting his eyes for too long makes him see bright police lights and the face of that disgusting **_murderer_** when he begged for his life that he doesn’t deserve.

Thus, Peter spends seconds, minutes, _hours_ doing what he does best: think ( _ ~~or, more accurately: overthink and overanalyze~~_ ).

He doesn’t _regret_ killing the murderer. Which _should_ be alarming, considering that he’s been raised by a loving aunt and uncle that are also respectful, law-abiding citizens.

Peter likes to think that he’s a good kid. He keeps his head down, diligently does his homework, recites in class, and humbly listens to his elders. When told not to do something, he obeys regardless of his internal protests. When slammed into lockers by bullies, he doesn’t snitch in the hopes that no one else is targeted. He’s kept his head up through it all.

Confrontation isn’t his thing, and neither is getting into petty fights over ‘ _you slept with x-y-z!_ ’ or name-calling others by spitting out ‘ _backstabbing son of a whore_ ’ to someone that has a different opinion from him.

The title of ‘Midtown High's Only Professional Wallflower’ isn’t _just_ for show.

None of the people around him befriend him without ulterior motives, anyway. They _always_ want something, whether it be to borrow and never return stationery, to copy forgotten homework, to coerce him into doing elicit things, or to have a punching bag that never fights back.

Life is—life is a fickle thing. Everyone, everything, and every choice is stacked upon one another like a house of cards. Every tiny move can cause a ripple effect. A chain reaction. Throwing in an extra variable to a formula, removing a curly bracket from computer code, adding a bit more of a solute or solvent to a solution, switching the order in which you pour liquids... all of these small actions can cause a huge change, an unexpected reaction.

His uncle’s death was nothing but pure chance ( _ ~~and Parker luck~~_ ). It’s a hard pill to swallow, even for Peter in his dissociated state of mind.

But it’s a cold hard _fact_.

The robber didn’t purposely _target_ Ben Parker, and merely shot him within the chaos. It could’ve been anyone else’s home he chose to rob from, it could’ve been anyone else on the wrong end of the gun, it could’ve been anyone else to fall onto the carpet of their own home and die in a state of shock.

Still. Peter had the chance to stop the killer who saw shooting Uncle Ben as a ‘necessary evil’.

_What if a mugger he ignores goes after Aunt May by chance? What if someone chooses to bomb their street? What if a shooter open fires while they’re at the supermarket?_

Peter Parker isn’t a skateboarding hipster, nor is he an awkward photographer with a firm code of morality, and he’s all as hell not an idealistic believer in happy endings.

No. He’s the cultivation of his years of being a social pariah. He’s the outcome of being scorned, taken advantage of, and constantly put down. His morals are far looser, far wilder, far more _unpredictable_ , but he’s still a teenager clinging on to the belief that the world can be a better place, because his aunt and uncle have proven that there are _good_ people out there.

They’ve raised him to do his best to make the world a better place, whether it be through inventing new things or helping someone carry their things. He has a _chance_ to stop unnecessary deaths from happening.

‘Memento mori’ is a phrase Peter’s heard in English class before. Literally, it means ‘Remember to die’. Essentially, it’s a fancy way of saying that you have to live life to the fullest, that you only have _one_ chance in this world.

Out there are people that don’t appreciate what they have, how _lucky_ they are to be alive, how privileged they are to be like this or to not be like that. It’s a cruel world out there, and Peter knows firsthand that it’s not a safe place. There are people out there that are consumed by their selfishness and greed, that will take advantage of the many chances people give them, that don’t hesitate to kill if it means achieving their goals. There are those that will do _anything_ to remain comfortable, to have a feast on the table, overflowing money in their pockets, and an expensive marble roof over their heads.

How redeemable is a pedophile? A rapist? How much more the criminals that get off scot-free because of a technicality, because of bribes? Or those that are let go early because of their ‘good behavior’? How about the ones that frame others for their crimes?

Peter tries to picture himself in an anonymous suit, tying up criminals and dropping them off for the police to find. Who’s to say that they’ll get charged? Prosecuted? Get put to jail? Get put to _justice_? It would be easy for them to lie, to cry wolf and pretend that they didn’t mean to steal this, or that they weren’t trying to do that.

There are people out there wasting their precious lives leeching off of and ruining others’. The prison and legal systems aren’t _perfect_ , but perhaps... _eliminating_ the worst of men is the right way to go.

He has a suit, the smarts, the _capabilities_ to make change. He doesn’t want to be a Robin Hood that steals from corrupt business, but he _can_ be the one that goes for the head of the beast and the one to watch the corrupt body go down in flames. There’s too big a chance of corruption if he tries to put a crime boss through court. ( _ ~~Wilson Fisk from Manhattan, anyone?~~_ )

Corruption, bribery... relying on the police is too risky considering anyone could be in anyone’s pocket. People could tattle, blabber on their mouths, go on to hurt others.

Reforming the world through kindness and charity in middle of the tug-of-war that is the corrupt money holders wanting to remain in power versus wanting to remain in the elite class of society is practically impossible. The world is at a standstill and Peter doesn’t think even the most generous and the richest of philanthropists can truly fix the root of the problem.

The responsibility is on him and him alone. So what if he has to stain his soul with the dirty blood of men? So what if he plans to commit atrocious acts to rid the world of the lowest of the low?

Men don’t fear imprisonment, or knives, or guns. They fear monsters. They fear the unknowns that manage to get into the confines of their precious homes, breaching the barrier of their safe space. They fear the shadows under their beds and inside their loved ones’ closets, thirsty for blood and out for vengeance. They run from them. They plead, they beg, they barter.

By putting one criminal to the stake, Peter would be sparing ten more. He can be the terror the underground needs to remain in check. He can be the looming figure they see in the corner of their eyes, that they panic over when they turn and see nothing.

Sometimes the world doesn’t need a hero.

It doesn’t need another do-gooder and follower of the law. Not another big-name superhero. Not another Iron Man, Captain America, or Avenger. Not another Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic, or another member of the Fantastic Four.

Sometimes, what it needs is a _monster_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand that's a wrap for Chapter 2! Hope I manage to write out Peter's train of thought coherently. I think there's a comic out there that depicts the police's POV when Spidey turns in criminals, because not all the guys he webs up go to jail due to lack of evidence or something along those lines.
> 
> The mentioned realities are: 616 is the main Spidey comicverse, 65 is the Spider-Gwen comicverse, 120703 is the TASM movies ( ~~aka the movie with the skateboarding hipster~~ ), and Earth-9576 is actually based on Marvel's What-If...? #72, where Peter accidentally beats the burglar to death. The What-If one-shot is a rollercoaster of a read with a heartwarming happy ending, I suggest reading it!
> 
> If there's anything or anyone you want to see come up, please let me know! Always feel free to leave a comment, they feed my soul, hahah. I hope you enjoyed reading! :)


	3. First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“...Spider-Man, with a hyphen,” Peter says, a strange feeling surging through him at sharing the name_ he _made for himself._

While Peter suspects that he latched on to the idea as a sort of coping mechanism, well, it’s better than turning to drugs or alcohol, right?

He’s not _stupid_ enough to run headfirst into his newfound goal of crimefighting without any sort of planning, so he takes his time planning. He buries his nose into dusty law books on vigilantism and thinks of every possible way to conceal his identity. Though he doesn’t plan on killing every single criminal there is (some _are_ just people with no other way out), there is the issue of him being blamed for murdering a so-called innocent civilian that’s very, _very_ good at hiding their tracks.

The answer comes in the form of a body camera. If the higher up, powerful big-name offenders started dropping dead with evidence of their transgressions pinned onto their corpses, who would still be brave enough to commit crimes against man?

With this in mind, he creates a folder on his computer—set to self-destruct if either broken into or if Peter himself enters a kill code. He archives information on some offenders, reads transcript after transcript of unfair trials, and familiarizes himself with a few people he may have to... _visit_ in the future.

People have always said he’s a bit of an overachiever.

*

Many, _many_ times is he tempted to drop the ruse and punch someone in the face—but he reminds himself that secret identities are secret for a _reason_. Lashing out would only put the spotlight on _him_. He wouldn’t be able to stop criminals if people could trace the webs and the superhuman abilities back to him.

That’s enough to pacify the raw anger inside Peter whenever his classmates, teachers, and _everyone_ around him treat him like glass. Act nice in his presence. As if they haven’t been petty and rude to him back then. He’d trade their fake niceties and condolences for Uncle Ben’s life any day, every day. But it’s a sort of protection, he tells himself, who’d suspect Puny Parker to be Spider-Man?

Maybe he should pretend to be a mutant too, just to throw people off.

*

His patience pays off in the form of an overheard conversation.

“... _Finally throwing those old things away!_ ” Across the cafeteria, the dance team’s leader throws his hands up in glee.

Another member nods furiously, stabbing a fork into a piece of spam. “ _I swear, those bodysuits are fine and all, but nothing beats a new suit for our new team._ ”

“ _Right? We’re finally going to wipe the floor with those rich fuckers at..._ ” Peter tunes out the rest, smiling to himself at the newly acquired knowledge. Bodysuits, huh? As far as he knows, the team has a range of colors. He hopes there’s a dark blue or black one that fits him, otherwise he’ll have to sew it up himself. It wouldn’t do to wear neon in the middle of the night—though the temptation to wear red and blue remains in the back of his mind.

The internet is a fountain of knowledge of silk-screening among other things, but he makes sure nonetheless to use different computers at the library and flood their search histories with nonsense questions just to be on the safe side.

*

Sneaking into school with a precognitive sense of danger and a buzz that rings when someone’s watching him is _painfully_ easy. He can’t help but mentally sing spy movie soundtracks as his quiet feet land on the floor of the bathroom he snuck into.

Luck seems to be on his side when he discovers a pile of dark colored bodysuits in varying shapes and sizes. He snatches the ones that are close enough to his size, and a few two-way mirrors from Drama's overflowing used prop closet. Doors and lights are double checked before he holes himself up in the art room to bring his conceptualized costume designed with webs to life.

*

In between the research, the costume making, the dumpster diving for gear, and the endless amount of back-up plan conceptualizing, Peter makes sure to set a quiet time every day to pay his respects to the man who raised him.

His aunt and uncle never had children, happy to remain as they were, babysitting him whenever his parents had an event to attend or an important job to do. When people came knocking on Uncle Ben and Aunt May’s door, Peter knew, even back then, that they weren’t financially prepared to raise him.

Still, they stubbornly held their heads high and stood their ground. They brought him into their fold and overwhelmed him with their kindness. They never asked for him, never initially _wanted_ him, but they took him in and loved him as if he was their own.

Movie bonding nights still happen in the midst of the chaos, and Aunt May and Peter always make sure to leave the ugly armchair open and unoccupied.

*

“Peter,” Aunt May murmurs to him the morning after Uncle Ben’s funeral. She looks at him straight in the eye and firmly holds onto his arms. “I’ll move mountains and rearrange stars—do _anything_ for you but I don’t ever want to bury your corpse. I can’t... I can’t bear the thought of losing you too.” _You’re all I have left_ goes unsaid but he hears it anyway.

“You _won’t_ , Aunt May, I **_promise_** ,” Peter vows.

She stares at him with an intensity that makes his insides squirm. His aunt has always been a strong and resilient woman, but he can see it right now more than ever. The fire in her teary eyes may have diminished but it still burns with a fierce passion and _love_. This steels his resolve to be the evil the world needs, to do what’s **_right_**. Law and police be damned.

After a few seconds, her gaze softens, and she pulls him in for a hug.

His feels tingly and warm at the gesture, returning it with enthusiasm. _What would she think of me if she found out what I’m planning to do?_ Peter never knew his mother, but if she loved him _half_ as much as Aunt May, he must've been very lucky.

“I love you, Peter.”

“I love you too, Aunt May.”

*

Spider-Man goes for a... _test run_ on a Saturday night.

Throw a pebble into the waters, see how the ripples go. Even if others vilify or scorn him for his doings, that’s not going to stop him, but support from others would go a long way when he starts eliminating those that are irredeemable. It’d also be nice to gain some intel on the streets, learn the ways of the underworld most New Yorkers turn a blind eye at.

His senses pick up on a commotion nearby, and he swings to the location. _A mugging_ , he notices, landing on the side of a nearby building. He stays in the shadows, crawling closer to assess the situation. It’s your standard hold-up, with knives—not _firearms_ , thankfully—and two masked people threatening a passerby taking a shortcut.

“Just give us your wallet—”

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you not to play with sharp objects?” A string of clear webbing snatches the blade away.

The muggers whip their heads around in confusion before Peter makes quick work of pinning their hands and feet to the brick wall. For good measure as one of them begins to yell swears that would make a sailor blush, he lets a well-aimed burst of webs shut their mouths too. Not to suffocate them, of course, _they’re_ not the type of criminals whose blood he’s after.

Doing a flip off of his position to land facing them, the voice modulator changes his voice _ever-so-slightly_ as he scolds, “Don’t do that again, please.”

Ignoring the muffled threats they throw at him, he turns to the woman. “The webbing will dissolve in about an hour,” he informs her. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m not... I’m not hurt of anything. Thank you, uh, sir! For saving me!” She fishes for her phone, visibly dazed at his appearance. “I’ll call 911, tell them that you... you helped.”

Peter nods, hoping that the gesture can be picked up. He salutes. “Anytime, ma’am, just trying to keep the neighborhood a safe place,” he replies and raises a hand to swing away.

“Wait! What do I—what do I call you? Are you a new vigilante? Do you have a name, or...”

“...Spider-Man, with a hyphen,” Peter says, a strange feeling surging through him at sharing the name _he_ made for himself. Sharing his made-up alias, for some reason, makes him feel giddy—like it’s _legitimizing_ that what he’s doing isn’t a one-time thing, but that it’s a responsibility that he’s happy to take up, to bear the burden of.

“Okay, thank you, Spider-Man,” she says kindly. “Really.”

Thankful that the mask conceals the way he flushes at the praise, Peter nods and, with a quiet _thwip_ , flings himself out of the alley to continue patrolling the neighborhood.

*

It isn’t long (a _day_!) before the papers start printing blurry pictures of him and forum threads start popping up about the new, mysterious figure. People of Reddit theorize about him, accounts on Twitter gossip on his intentions, and word on the streets of Queens spread.

‘ _BIG APPLE DREADS SPIDER BITE!_ ’

‘ _WHO IS THE SPIDER-MAN?_ ’

‘ _MYSTERIOUS VIGILANTE STOPS PETTY CRIMES!_ ’

Peter can’t help but smile, satisfied at himself, and closes the open tabs on his computer. The public seem to love a vigilante that watches out for the little guy, but how would they react to one that won’t hesitate to off those that are the true scum of the planet? Based on the mixed reactions to Daredevil (who beats the living heck out of people to an inch of their lives) and the Punisher (who _does_ finish his enemies off with whatever means necessary), there’s a general consensus that there are bad guys that _do_ deserve death when the justice system doesn’t do what it’s meant to.

While Spider-Man’s presence might throw off a few wannabes, it won’t be enough for the people at the top. Peter can make an example out of someone—but the question is: _who?_

 _Fisk?_ he thinks to himself. _The guy’s in prison, but there’s nothing saying that he can’t control people while inside it_. Peter makes a mental ‘maybe’ note for it, he should investigate more about Fisk, ask about him and his character to the lawyers that put him into prison, track down those that were silenced with the threat of a bullet or fist.

 _Wescott_ , the predatorial part of his mind suggests. He rejects the idea immediately, knowing that it might provide a link between him and his alter ego, and tosses it into its own ‘maybe in the future’ corner.

Peter leans back into his seat, chewing on his pen. Perhaps he’ll wait, research more on serial killers, child abusers, human traffickers, and rapists in the area. _Especially_ on the repeat offenders, those that got laid off easily, and those that slipped by the police’s fingers. You can never go wrong with a bit more knowledge.

He cracks his knuckles and gets to work, forming a plan to take pictures, videos, _evidence_ that’ll be irrefutable proof of these people’s true natures.

If the whispers of a few are to be believed, there’s a ring in the Tribeca trafficking _children_. He’ll do a stake out of that chunk of Manhattan and bust their operation, though a part of him hopes that there _isn’t_ one.

 _Kids_. Younger than him. Being traded, sold, bartered for like they’re _materials_ , objects that have no free will or capability to feel, think, and act on their own.

The thought makes Peter _sick_.

What sort of excuse would the handlers have to justify their crimes against human life? He’ll be happy to bust and expose it all to the world. He’ll hunt down every single one of them, find their sources, hunt down the names of their _buyers_.

Spider-Man isn’t going to show them the kindness, the mercy, the _second chances_ he does to desperate muggers and rookie thieves.

Oh, no.

They’d be fools to think that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A commenter asked if the Avengers will appear, then I replied that they (and the F4 and Defenders) will appear later on but the focus is mainly on Peter. Then I remembered about the Punisher and the actual What-If one-shot where _[Spider-Man becomes the Punisher](https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/What_If%3F_The_Punisher_Vol_1_1)_. HOW COULD I FORGET THAT SUCH A GLORIOUS COMIC EXISTS?
> 
> *facepalms* I could've based the first chapter on parts of it but, oh, well, what's done is done. I'm most likely going to sprinkle bits and pieces of that here, though. I suggest you guys read the comic! So we can scream together about it hnghhfjdsfkd Earth-71928!Punisher!Peter is closer to Peter in this fic than the accidentally-kill-the-burglar!Peter, but let's ignore that and leave my Chapter 2 as is, m'kay?
> 
> Don't worry, there'll be more Spidey action comin' right up! Please comment what you think and feel free to let me know if there's anything or anyone you want to see appearing. *wink wonk* I've also updated the tags! A new face might appear in the next chapter too, heheh.


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